Disgraced South Korean leader Park Geun-hye left the presidential Blue House on Sunday, two days after a court dismissed her over a corruption scandal, facing life as a private citizen and the possibility of jail.
Park struck a defiant tone upon arriving at her private home in the Gangnam district of the capital, Seoul, after leaving the Blue House compound in a motorcade of fast-driving black cars, flanked by police motorbikes.
“I feel sorry that I could not finish the mandate given to me as president,” a spokesman for Park, member of parliament Min Kyung-wook, quoted her as saying.
“It will take time, but I believe the truth will be revealed,” Park said in her first public comments since her dismissal.
She accepted responsibility for the events that culminated in the Constitutional Court on Friday upholding a parliamentary impeachment vote over an influence-peddling scandal that has shaken the political and business elite.
“I take responsibility for the outcome of all this,” Min quoted her as saying.